Mechanical movement



Jame l0 1924;,

1 ,496,903 C.PHELPS MECHANICAL MOVEMENT Filed May 8. 1923 1a 24 i 9 O o oo as .10 2g W M I o OI 1' 0 ,w a

[wen/Z07" Patented June 10, 1224.

CHARLES PHELPS, OF OSKALOOSA, IOWA.

MECHANICAL MOVEMENT.

Application filed May a,

To all to hom it may concern: 7

Be it known that I, CHARLES PHELPS, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Oskaloosa, in the county of Mahaska,

' State of Iowa, have invented a certain new and usefulMechanical Movement, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to provide a device of simple, durable and inexpensive construction for converting a rectilinear reciprocating motion into a continuous rotary motion.

More specifically it is the object of my invention to provide a mechanical movement of this character in which there is a minimum of friction or lost power, and the power is transmittted uniformly and positively.

My invention consists in the construction, arrangement and combination of the various parts of the device, whereby the objects contemplated are attained, as hereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in my claims, and illustrated in the accompanying draw ings, in which: I 1

Figure 1 shows a front elevation of a me chanical movement embodying my invention with the parts in position for driving the pinion from the lower rack bar.

Figure 2 shows a similar view with the parts in position for driving the pinion from the upper rack bar; and

Figure 3 shows a sectional view on the line 33 of Figure 2.

Referring to the accompanying drawings I have used the reference numeral 10 to indicate a shaft which is intended to be mounted in supports that will permit only a rectilinear reciprocating movement. The reference numeral 11 indicates a shaft at right angles to the shaft 10 and designed to be mounted in supports that will permit its movement only in a rotary direction.

Fixed to the shaft 10 between its ends is a rectangular frame 12 and mounted within the rectangular frame 12 is a rack bar frame 13 also rectangular in outline, and having at its upper side a rack bar 14: with the teeth extended downwardly and also having at its under sidea rack bar 15 with the teeth projected upwardly. These two rack bars are of the same length but their ends are not in vertical alinement.

The rack bar13 is slidingly mounted within the frame 12 in such a manner that a limited vertical movement relative to the frame 12 is provided, and the rack bar frame is 1923. seriaino. 637,428.

uided in this movement by the plates 16 fixed to the ends of the frame 12 and overlapping the ends of the frame 13. Formed in the upper surface of the rack bar frame 13 is a series of tapered notches 17, and formed on the under surface of the rack bar frame 13 is av similar series of tapered notches 17. i V

Slidingly mounted between the upper edge of the frame 13 and the top bar of the frame 12 is a wedge bar 18 having a series of tapered projections 19 thereon. These wedge bars 18 are mounted within the frame 12 so that they may have a limited sliding longitudinal movement, and they are guided in this movement by the plates 20. These wedge bars are so arranged, shaped and proportioned that when the lower wedge bar, as shown in Figure 1, is moved to one limit of its movement the projections 19 will stand out of alinement with the notches 17, and will engage the under surface of the rack bar frame, andwhen in this position the tapered projections 19 on the upper wedge bar will enter the corresponding tapered notches 17, and obviously the rack bar frame will then be held firmly and rigidly at the limit of its movement upwardly within the frame 12,,and when this relative position of the wedge bars is reversed, as shown in Figure 2, the rack bar frame will be rigidly and firmly held at its limit of movement downwardly within the frame 12.

Fixed to the shaft 11 is a pinion '21, and this pinion is preferably provided with a cylindrical flange 22. The pinion itself may perform the function for which this flange is provided, and in my claims where I have referred to the pinion as operating the levers, I intend that it be so construed that this function. may be performed by the pinion itself, or by the flange associated with the pinion.

Pivoted to the rack bar frame. are four levers 23. The two upper levers are pivotally connected at 2 1 to the upper wedge bar 18, and the two lower levers 23 are pivoted to the lower wedgebar. Each of the levers 23 has one end extended downwardly so that when at a certain position of the movement of the frame 12, it will engage the flange 22 for the purpose of moving the lever.

In this connection attention is called to the fact that the two upper levers 23 are out of line vertically with the two lower levers. The relative arrangement of the levers and their wedge bars is such that when the parts are in the position shown in Figure 2, and assumingthat the frame 12 is moving toward the right, then the flange 22 will first engage the lever 23 at the upper right side, as shown in Figure 2, and this movement will cause the said lever 23 to move the wedge bar to the left until its tapered. projections are in 'line vertically with the adjacent tapered notches. Then when the frame 12 progresses in the same direction a little farther, the flange 22 will engage .the lever 23 at the lower right side, asshown in Figure 2, and this will cause the lower wedge bar 18 to move toward the left, as shown in Figure 2, thus forcing the rack bar frame upwardly to the position shown in Figure 1.

it is obvious that the entire device is of simple and inexpensive construction, and easily assembled, and that a rectilinear movement applied to the shaft 10 may be made to impart any desired number of com plete revolutions within reasonable limits to the shaft 11 by changing the proportions of the pinion rack bars. When the reciprocating frame approaches one end of its move ment, one of the wedge bars will be first moved to position for bringing its tapered projections into alinement vertically with the tapered recesses of the racl: bar frame. and then immediately following that move ment, the other wedge bar will positively force the rack frame to the opposite limit of its movement where it will be locked by the wedge bar that was first moved, so that at all times during the operation of the device, the rack bar frame will be positively held or locked at one or the other limit of its movement so that the intermeshing teeth will engage and operate in the most eflicient manner.

It is obvious further that the friction is minimized because it requires only a very slight amount of power to impart the small longitudinal movement necessary to the rack bars.

Obviously, instead of the two rack bars and the pinion illustrated and described in this application, there may be employed instead friction surfaces in place of the cog teeth, and for certain uses these friction sur-- faces are preferable to the toothed surfaces 1 claim as my invention:

1. A mechanical movement of the class described comprising in combination a. shaft capable of movement in a rectilinear longitudinal path, a main frame carried thereby, a rack bar frame slidingly mounted in the main frame capable of limited movement in a direction at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the said shaft, two rack bars fixedto the rack bar frame, the teeth of said rack bars extending toward each other, levers pivoted to the rack bar frame, wedging devices operatively connected with said levers, a rotatable shaft extended through the rack bar frame and a pinion thereon, said parts being so arranged and proportioned that when the main frame is moved toward one limit of its movement, the said pinion will engage said levers and cause the wedge devices thereof to move the rack bar frame within the mainframe to position for withdrawing one of the rack bars from engagement with the pinion and throwing the other rack bar into engagement with the pinion.

2. A mechanical movement of the class described comprising in combination a shaft capable of movement in a rectilinear longitudinal path, a main frame carried thereby, a rack bar frame slidingly mounted in the main frame capable of limited movement in a direction at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the said shaft, two rack bars fixed to the rack bar frame, the teeth of said rack bars extending toward each other, levers pivoted to the rack bar frame, two wedge bars slidingly supported in the main frame between the main frame and the rack bar frame, each wedge bar being formed of a series of tapered projections and the adjacent portions of the rack bar frame being provided with corresponding tapered projections, said levers each having one end pivotally connected to said wedge bar, a rotatable shaft extended through the rack bar frame, and a pinion thereon, said parts being so arranged and proportioned that when the rack bar frame approaches one limit of its movement, it will first engage one of said levers and move the corresponding wedge bar to position where the projections thereon are in line with corresponding notches of the rack bar frame, and then shortly thereafter during the same movement, the other lever at the same end of the rack bar frame will engage the pinion and move the corresponding wedge bar to position with its projections engaging the adjacent surface of the rack bar frame out of line with the notches.

3. A mechanical movement of the class described comprising in combination a shaft capable of movement in a rectilinear longitudinal path, a main frame carried thereby, a power transmitting frame slidingly mounted in the main frame and capable of limited movement in a direction at right angles to the longitudinal axis of said shaft, two power transmitting bars fixed to the power transmitting frame, the power transmittingsurfaces thereof being spaced apart and opposed to each other, a rotatable shaft arranged at right angles to the first mentioned shaft and extended between the power transmitting bars, a wheel thereon capable of engagement with one of the said power transmitting bars when the power transmitting frame is at one limit of its movement and in engagement with the other bar when the power transmitting frame is at its other limit of movement, two levers associated with each of the power transmitting bars at opposite ends thereof, one of them being arranged to engage the said wheel when the main frame approaches each end of its movement, means for operatively connecting the pair of levers on each side of the power transmitting frame, and means associated with each pair of levers for forcibly moving the power transmitting frame within the main frame as the main frame approaches each limit of its movement.

CHARLES PHELPS. 

